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Leroy Jethro Gibbs
(divorced, deceased) * Rebecca Chase (divorced) * Stephanie Flynn (divorced) }} |children = Kelly Gibbs (deceased) |extra-hdr = Career at NCIS |lbl31 = Position |data31 = Supervisory Special Agent *Major Case Response Team, Washington DC office *Undercover operative, Europe |lbl32 = Rank |data32 = Senior field agent |lbl33 = Years of Service |data33 = c. 1991–present |lbl34 = Awards |data34 = Navy Meritorious Civilian Service Award Purple Heart }} Leroy Jethro Gibbs is a fictional character of the CBS TV series NCIS, portrayed by Mark Harmon. He is a former U.S Marine Corps Scout Sniper turned special agent who commands a team for the Naval Criminal Investigative Service. Gibbs is the most accomplished marksman on the team and the most skilled at handling violent standoffs; he depends on his other agents heavily for technical forensics and background checks. He is patient but firm with his team and has little patience for bureaucracy; he commands most other main characters—including Anthony DiNozzo, Timothy McGee, Eleanor Bishop, Ducky Mallard, and Abby Sciuto—and is the backbone of the cast. Development and casting Series creator Donald P. Bellisario initially did not think Mark Harmon would fit the role of Gibbs, a "flinty type with a strong sense of honor and respect for the military", but changed his mind after viewing a tape of Harmon's portrayal of a Secret Service agent on The West Wing. Co-executive producer Charles Floyd Johnson recalls, "We all looked at that work. And everybody said, 'He's Gibbs.'" Harmon was cast in 2003, and Bellisario explained, "I said, 'Oh, my God, he's Gibbs.' He had matured. He's good-looking in a totally different way than he was as a young guy." At another point, he said, "I am so lucky to have Mark Harmon as the lead. You have no idea. This cast is gold. Mark Harmon is a Middle American guy, even if he was raised in Southern California. His values are exactly the same as mine." Harmon said of his character, "I was attracted by his flaws. He has lousy taste in women. He's addicted to coffee." Gibbs was initially written as "not too far removed" from characters like Dr. Robert "Bobby" Caldwell and Dr. Jack McNeil, both previous roles by Harmon. In an early episode, Gibbs "playfully smacked Weatherly's Dinozzo on the back of the head" resulting in the trademark "headslap" that later appeared in many episodes throughout the seasons. In later years, he is scripted as more stoical, with Bellisario stating, "I thought the best thing to do was to give him a minimum of dialogue." It was not until the third season that the backstory surrounding his first wife and daughter's murder was revealed. His relationships with his coworkers were developed, with him becoming something of a father figure to Special Agent Ziva David and Forensic Specialist Abby Sciuto. Mark Harmon's older son Sean has appeared on NCIS portraying a younger version of Gibbs in flashbacks. Background In the backstory, Gibbs was born on May 2, 1958, and was shown in the episode "Heartland" to have grown up in Stillwater, Pennsylvania. The town is real, and the scenes in the episode were modeled after Bellisario's hometown of Cokeburg, although they are actually 250 miles apart. His father, Jackson Gibbs (played by Ralph Waite), owned and ran the Stillwater General Store. He is named after his father's close friend and partner, Leroy Jethro "LJ" Moore, in the store after they worked together in the coal mines (Winslow Mining Company). In "The Namesake", it is revealed that LJ, a World War II veteran and Montford Point Marine, had influenced the teenaged Gibbs to join the Marines. Gibbs left Stillwater in 1976 at age 18 to join the Marine Corps and, according to his own statements, did not return for over thirty years. In a flashback scene in the episode, as a teenager, Gibbs often provoked violence with defiance to his father, who constantly comes to his unwanted aid with a Winchester rifle or shotgun. He was also known around the area as a delinquent, as said by the new sheriff, one of the other delinquents during his teenage years, stating, "Funny, never expected to find you on the same side of the law." He met his first wife Shannon (portrayed by both Darby Stanchfield and Aviva), who worked at the local department store, when both were teenagers. In subsequent episodes, Gibbs is shown to be often known by his first name Leroy to family and people in his hometown, whereas at work, he is known as Jethro or "Boss". Gibbs' mother, Ann, is introduced in "Life Before His Eyes", the 200th episode. Like all of Gibbs' wives, she is a redhead. As portrayed in "The Namesake", while she was dying of cancer, she committed suicide by overdose so her family would not have to watch her suffer. In the same episode, her death was revealed as the root of a long-standing feud between Gibbs' father and LJ as the elder Gibbs felt LJ should have stopped Ann from committing suicide. Gibbs enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1976 and was a military police non-commissioned officer at Camp Lejeune before becoming a Scout Sniper. He served on tours of duty in Panama(Operation Just Cause) and with the 1st Battalion 1st Marines in the Persian Gulf (Operation Desert Storm). In the season 6 episode "Deliverance", it is revealed that he was also deployed to Colombia on a classified mission and in one scene, his service record file is seen labeled as "top secret", suggesting he may have participated in special operations missions. Through interactions with high-ranking Marine officers, Gibbs was implied to be generally well-respected during his time in the Corps. Not long after returning from the Gulf, he retired from the Marine Corps with the rank of Gunnery Sergeant and joined the Naval Investigative Service (as the Naval Criminal Investigative Service was called back then) in August 1991. In the JAG episode "Ice Queen", he is stated to be a Marine fleet reservist, but this has not been addressed since. As a junior agent, Gibbs was mentored by Mike Franks, and the two became close friends; Franks continued calling him "Probie" even after retirement. After Franks retired, Gibbs rose to become head of his own Major Case Response Team. Before the time in which NCIS is set, Gibbs was described to have traveled extensively on operations, particularly in Eastern Europe. Gibbs is also written as a highly skilled marksman with both his agency-issued SIG Sauer P228 and a sniper rifle, as shown in the season 7 premiere, "Truth or Consequences", in which he kills the terrorists holding his team hostage from an exceptionally long distance and outshoots a professional hit-man in an approaching helicopter in "South by Southwest". In numerous episodes, his proficiency and familiarity with a variety of firearms is shown. That he is a deadshot marksman is further evidenced in "Hiatus" with flashbacks of him hitting a long-range headshot of his family's murderer, who was driving a moving vehicle; in "Jeopardy", he hits a kidnapper with a very swift killshot to the forehead despite being mostly hidden from sight in the car trunk and using his left hand. In the gunfight scene in "Bete Noire", with both men's weapons already drawn, Gibbs double taps Ari Haswari to the chest (who, unknown to Gibbs, was wearing a bullet-proof vest) while Ari manages just one shot. His knowledge of the Corps and training as a sniper often comes into use, as shown in the episodes "Ravenous", "Vanished" and "Twenty Klicks" where he uses his wilderness tracking skills and marksmanship to either aid the investigation and get the team out of trouble. Gibbs is portrayed as a private man of few words who discloses little to nothing about his personal life. He avoids discussing his life or past before he joined NCIS, especially to agents and co-workers under him, which leads to his team members constantly speculating over his private life, as shown in the episode "Heartland", where McGee and Ziva secretly "report" to Abby and Tony about Gibbs' father and hometown. In "The Curse", he repeatedly dodges questions from Tony about his age and, in other episodes, he refuses to directly answer any of his agents' (including Abby's) questions regarding his ex-wives or military service. Aside from his tendency to use military slang, he rarely mentions or speaks at length about his time in the Marine Corps. However, he is still referred to as "Gunny" by other Navy and Marine officers, occasionally dons a "USMC" hoodie or T-shirt when off duty and has a replica of the iconic Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima photograph framed and mounted above the fireplace in his home. Through flashbacks, certain personality traits and mannerisms, interactions with other characters and the character's intimate knowledge of the Corps and the Navy are related. Due to his military background, Gibbs holds service personnel in the armed forces in high esteem and to a higher standard. He becomes particularly indignant when the guilty party is someone in a position of trust and authority and has reacted violently on several occasions when apprehending corrupt high-ranking officers who committed crimes for monetary gain. In the season 3 episode "Under Covers", Abby Sciuto wishes him "happy birthday", referring to the Marine Corps birthday on November 10, and he drinks a toast in the office after hours. The episode first aired on November 8, 2005, two days before the anniversary of the Second Continental Congress' passage in 1775 of a resolution authorizing the formation of the Continental Marines. In the season 4 episode "Singled Out", McGee asks Gibbs how long he has been a special agent, to which Gibbs responds, "16 years". This contradicts Gibbs' statement in the JAG season 8 episode "Ice Queen", when in response to Harmon Rabb's question, "How long have you been doing this, Gibbs?", Gibbs responds, "19 years". Category:NCIS Agents Category:NCIS Category:NCIS characters Category:Characters Category:Main Characters